During the “Walgau 2023” exercise from 6 to 10 November, around 800 soldiers from all over Austria trained together with police forces and other emergency organizations in Vorarlberg, for example in the event of a terrorist or arson attack.
The exercise scenario was a hybrid threat situation in which underground opponents want to destabilize society through terror and misinformation. “The current security situation and in particular the terrorist attack in Israel show how important the fight against terrorism and terrorist attacks is. Our armed forces are responsible for the defense of our country and must be quickly deployable in the event of a crisis. It is therefore extremely important for our 800 soldiers to train for crisis scenarios together with the police,” says Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner.
“The current security situation and in particular the terrorist attack in Israel show how important the fight against terrorism and terrorist attacks is.
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Verteidigungsministerin Klaudia Tanner
On the first day of the exercise, several vehicle convoys from several convoys of vehicles from Lower Austria and Styria drove to the Schwarzenberg barracks in Salzburgwhere the first assembly point for the soldiers from eastern Austria taking part in the exercise was located. After being alerted, given orders and made ready to march, the reaction forces of the 3rd Jäger Brigade under the command of Jäger Battalion 17 from Straß initially had to make the march from southern Styria and the other barracks locations throughout Austria to Salzburg. On Tuesday, November 7, the vehicles of all exercise participants finally moved on to Bludesch in the Vorarlberg Walgau barracks.
The following day, the situation in Vorarlberg intensified in the exercise scenario: the reaction forces from the Walgau barracks were called to an attack threat on an energy supply protection object in the south of Vorarlberg. A vehicle equipped with Pandur Evolution wheeled armored vehicles equipped with Pandur Evolution wheeled armored vehicles was able to prevent the attack in time. In Feldkirch, the fire department reported arsonists and suspicious handling of chemicals for an arson attack. The NBC forces in protective suits that were deployed detected chemical warfare agents. As a result, all of the fire department’s equipment and their own equipment had to be decontaminated. In Feldkirch in particular, more and more suspicious terrorist preparations were reported during the exercise, so that a massive surveillance of the city with armored troops was ordered at all important locations for Thursday, November 9. This “show of force” was carried out with wheeled armoured vehicles and armoured multi-purpose vehicles. https://militaeraktuell.at/northrops-super-bomber-b-21-raider-fliegt-erstmals/ The reaction forces of the 3rd Jägerbrigade also received information that civilians from a minority group were fleeing from armed persons in Brandnertal near Bludenz. A short time later, the forces reached the scene and were able to separate the parties. After taking care of the people seeking protection, the armed forces of the conflicting party were tracked down about three kilometers deeper in the valley using drones and captured.
The highlight of the exercise was the response to an assumed night-time terrorist attack on a supermarket in Feldkirch. After a car bomb exploded during an evening sale, heavily armed terrorists stormed into the supermarket, shot around and took hostages. The police stormed the market with the Cobra special unit and a BvS10 Hägglunds from Jäger Battalion 23 and freed the hostages. However, some of the terrorists fled and were eventually overpowered in the outer security ring of the alerted reaction forces. In the meantime, the injured were rescued from the danger zone with Pandur Evolution and handed over to the Red Cross forces. The situation was resolved by midnight. Finally, on Friday, November 10, the exercise was concluded in the morning hours with the loading of the combat vehicles by the reaction forces at the Bludenz and Feldkirch train stations. The tanks are transported to the home garrisons on freight trains.
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